When I made the statement:

>It is seen every two or three days on the same tree. Maybe it "traplines"
like some >tropical hummingbirds and has a regular route??

I was wondering that if you were to sit and watch the tree, would the bird
appear, feed, and depart and the return, feed, etc by an ongoing schedule.
The Hawaiian I'iwi and the South American Sword-billed Hummingbird have a
route that they follow. If you catch a glimpse of the bird feeding and
wait awhile, it will re-appear. I would guess that the frequency of
appearance is related to the rate at which the flowers it is feeding on
produce nectar.

After I made the rather general statement about 'sap sucking', I went tp
"Woodpeckers" by Winkler, Christie and Nurney they mentioned a number of
feeding strategies but not 'traplining'.

Bob
Federal Way, WA
taylorrt at foxinternet.net

PS Has anybody got a relatively reliable location for Three-toed or
Black-backed Woodpecker within a couple of hour drive? We tried in the
Sherman Pass area but the weather was a little uncooperative!